Walled garden at Holbrook House

Crinkle-crankle walled garden to Holbrook House, built in the late C18 or early C19.

MATERIALS: the walls are built of handmade red brick, with the exception of a rebuilt section in machine-made brick at the north end of the south-west wall. The south-east and south-west crinkle-crankle walls are laid in stretcher bond with a coping of chamfered brick. The remaining two walls are laid in a variation of Flemish bond: the north-east side has two stretchers and a header, and the north-west side has three stretchers and a header, both with saddleback coping.

PLAN: the walled garden is oriented south-east to north-west on gently sloping ground to the north-west. It has a long rectangular plan with a small wing on the north-west corner.

EXTERIOR: the main entrance to the walled garden is on the short south-east crinkle-crankle wall, which is aligned with the front door of Holbrook House. Ornate double-leaf wrought iron gates are hung between brick gate piers surmounted by stone lion heads, flanked by short raking buttresses. Similar buttresses are positioned at intervals on the inner side of this wall, whilst tall, stepped buttresses support the long south-west crinkle-crankle wall on its inner side. Tall, shallow buttresses are positioned along the inner side of the short, straight north-west wall. The long straight north-east wall has pockmarks in the brick and the remains of white wash, indicating that fruit trees were attached and trained on it.

There are three other entrances to the garden: on the north-west side, and at the northern end of the north-east and south-west sides. It is very likely they are in the original locations as they align with the paths shown on the 1882 map, although the plank and batten doors with long strap hinges and latches are not original.

The path running around the inner edge of the walled garden is laid in basketweave brick on the north-east side and crazy paving on the south-west side, with short flights of concrete steps at the southern end. None of these materials are original, although the paths are in the same position as shown on the 1882 Ordnance Survey map. The garden is laid to lawn with flower borders and some fruit bushes at the northern end.